Matthew Mohan Channel NewsAsia 18 Aug 19;
SINGAPORE: Tackling the “50 to 100-year problem” of rising sea levels could cost Singapore around S$100 billion or more, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday (Aug 18).
In his English National Day Rally speech, Mr Lee highlighted that Singapore is susceptible to the effects of climate change and especially vulnerable to rising sea levels.
“How much will it cost, to protect ourselves against rising sea levels? My guess is probably S$100 billion over 100 years, quite possibly more,” said Mr Lee.
“If we only have 10 years to solve the problem, we won’t have have the time or resources to do it. But because this is a 50 to 100-year problem, we can implement a 50 to 100-year solution.”
Climate change defences should be treated with utmost seriousness, just like the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), said Mr Lee.
He said there is a need to “work steadily at it, maintain a stable budget year after year, keep your eye on the target and do it over many years and several generations”.
INSPIRATION FROM ABROAD
While Singapore has implemented localised measures to protect individual buildings and developments – new developments are required to be built at least 4m above sea level, and this requirement is even higher for critical infrastructure – these solutions will not be enough, said Mr Lee.
“We have many older buildings. These cannot be lifted up, or transported to higher ground,” explained Mr Lee.
“In fact, large parts of Singapore are low-lying, and we need to protect these low-lying areas as a whole.”
As such, coastal defences need to be built, said Mr Lee.
“We have studied our whole coastline in detail, and we've divided it into different segments,” he said.
Work will be prioritised for more "critical" areas such as the City-East Coast and Jurong Island segments.
In the city area for instance, there are plans to build a second pump house at the Marina Barrage. The current pump house contains seven giant pumps, said Mr Lee.
“We built the Marina Reservoir and Marina Barrage, to protect the city area from flooding,” added Mr Lee. He said that when it rains heavily during high tide, the pumps take water out ofMarina Reservoir and deliver it into the sea, so that rain falling in the city area can drain into the reservoir. "When sea levels rise, one pump house will not be enough,” Mr Lee pointed out.
Other solutions are required for the eastern coastline of Singapore, pointed out Mr Lee.
One option – implemented by the Netherlands – is the construction of what the Dutch call “polders”, which is land that is reclaimed from the sea.
Polders are created by first building a seawall in the water, before pumping out the water behind the seawall to create dry land. This land can be lower than sea level, but water has to continually pumped out.
This is a “serious option” for the Republic, said Mr Lee.
A small polder is currently being built at Pulau Tekong, added Mr Lee, to gain some “experience” operating one. The new land will be used for SAF training.
Another alternative is to reclaim a series of islands offshore, from Marina East to Changi, said Mr Lee.
They can be connected by barrages, and a freshwater reservoir similar to Marina Reservoir could be created, he explained.
“We will examine all the options carefully, and when the time comes, we will decide what is the best way to do it,” said Mr Lee. “This problem has good engineering solutions, although they will all cost money.”
What matters is that Singapore’s climate change plans must be implemented “progressively” and kept “flexible”, emphasised Mr Lee.
“But we must start now and sustain the effort, as the Dutch have done over centuries, and as we have done with the SAF,” he said. “We must make this effort. Otherwise one day, our children and grandchildren will be ashamed of what our generation did not do.”
Source: CNA/mt
It will cost S$100b or more over next 50 to 100 years to protect Singapore against rising sea levels: PM Lee
WONG PEI TING Today Online 18 Aug 19;
SINGAPORE — It will cost Singapore S$100 billion or more over the next 50 to 100 years to protect itself against rising sea levels, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Aug 18), stressing that the country should treat climate change defences like it treats the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) — “with utmost seriousness”.
In his English speech at the National Day Rally, Mr Lee noted that both represent matters of "life and death".
“Everything else must bend at the knee to safeguard the existence of our island nation,” Mr Lee said.
But he warned that there is one difference between the SAF and climate change: With the SAF, the country can deter threats and hopes never to go to war. But with climate change, it is known for sure that sea levels will rise — the uncertainty is whether they rise a few decades sooner or later.
HOW WOULD THE S$100 BILLION BE SPENT?
The S$100 billion will mainly be spent on coastal defences, Mr Lee said, because significant areas of Singapore are 4m above mean sea level or lower, and will be increasingly at risk of going underwater when sea levels rise.
One critical segment stretches from East Coast to the city. Currently, Marina Reservoir and Marina Barrage protect the city area from flooding. The Pump House at the Barrage pumps water out of Marina Reservoir into the sea when it rains heavily, so that rain falling in the city area can then drain into Marina Reservoir.
But this will not be enough when sea levels rise and a second pump house will need to be built at the opposite end of the Barrage, he said.
For the eastern coastline, Singapore will need other solutions and has looked at other countries for inspiration, such as the Netherlands, which uses “polders” — land that has been reclaimed from the sea — and dykes to keep the land dry, he added.
Another alternative, Mr Lee said, is to reclaim a series of islands offshore from Marina East to Changi, connect them up with barrages and create a reservoir, similar to Marina Reservoir.
Singapore is still examining the options carefully and will decide what to do when the time comes, he added.
“This problem does have good engineering solutions, though they will all cost money.”
Singapore’s climate change plans will be implemented progressively and kept flexible, Mr Lee said.
“But we must start now and sustain the effort, as the Dutch have done over centuries and as we have done with the SAF.”
HOW WILL SINGAPORE RAISE THE FUNDS?
Singapore must “work steadily at it, maintain a stable budget year after year, keep your eye on the target, and do it over many years and several generations”, Mr Lee said.
“That way we can afford it, and when we need it, we will be ready.”
He added: “If we only have 10 years to solve the problem, we won’t have enough time or resources to do it. But because this is a 50- to 100-year problem, we can implement a 50- to 100-year solution to this problem.
“In Singapore, long-term problems, we can make long-term solutions. Not everywhere. But in Singapore, yes, we can.”
MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE
Efforts must not be spared to mitigate climate change, and Singapore must do its part to reduce carbon emissions, Mr Lee said.
One way this can be done is to reduce waste, he said, remarking that Singapore generates “a huge amount of waste” from excessive packaging, food waste, or electronic waste.
They produce carbon dioxide when incinerated, and while the Pulau Semakau landfill handles trash and incinerated ash, it will eventually fill up, then Singapore will need a “Bukit Semakau” or “Gunung Semakau”, he quipped, referring to how the landfill will become a hill or mountain.
“We must make this effort. Otherwise, one day, our children and grandchildren will be ashamed of what our generation did not do,” Mr Lee said.
Rising sea levels to affect property values? Not if the Govt has solutions planned, say analysts
WONG PEI TING Today Online 18 Aug 19;
SINGAPORE — When sea levels rise, the low-lying areas of Singapore that will increasingly be at risk include a long stretch on the East Coast from Changi to the city centre, but property analysts said that this will unlikely affect the value of real estate in these areas.
This is because the Government has already indicated that it is going to tackle the problems, they said.
Stressing the importance of investing in climate change defence at the National Day Rally held at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central on Sunday (Aug 18), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that property values, safety and liveability in those areas will be affected by rising sea levels if mitigating measures are not in place.
To protect the coastline, the Government will likely need to spend S$100 billion or more on solutions over the next 50 to 100 years.
From a map that Mr Lee showed at the rally, the areas most susceptible to sea-level rise include Tanjong Rhu and Marine Parade, and places hugging the Singapore River and Kallang Basin.
Some of them happen to be prime real estate that is centrally located, sea-facing or offering riverfront living.
These areas are 4m above mean sea level or lower — and this is not much because water can surge as high as 2m above the mean sea level during high tide.
Mr Chris Koh, director of property consultancy Chris International, said that property prices in this eastern stretch will be pulled down only “if there are no solutions”, and if rising sea levels remain a “worrying situation”.
“Now, it is clear that the Government will do something, so property values will remain sustainable. Developers won’t be deterred.”
Furthermore, in 50 to 100 years’ time, 99-year lease properties in at-risk areas — even Mandarin Gardens along the Marine Parade Road stretch or the newest ones that are being built right now — would be returned to the Government to be redeveloped or be sold in an en-bloc sale, Mr Koh said.
In time, property developers should also know to construct buildings to sit at least 4m above sea level in at-risk areas, he said, noting that it is “not difficult” for developers to raise the foundation by 1m.
At the rally, Mr Lee said that a buffer is needed to cope with heavy rains while sea levels are projected to rise by up to 1m by the end of the century — just 80 years from now.
A video illustration he used showed that rising sea levels will first impact Pulau Tekong and the cluster of islands south of Singapore.
Then they will next hit Jurong Island and the city to East Coast stretch — both of which had been identified by Mr Lee as “critical segments” where work is to be prioritised.
While he emphasised that these segments will not be submerged under water yet, they will be at risk like how Chinatown used to be in the old days — “high tide, rain, trouble”, he said.
VALUE OF RECLAIMED LAND
One solution is to build “polders” and dykes as the Dutch have done, which will include reclaiming new land from the sea and keeping the land dry.
Another alternative is to reclaim a series of islands offshore from Marina East to Changi, connect them up with barrages and create a reservoir — similar to Marina Reservoir that is formed with the Marina Barrage.
A small polder is already being built at Pulau Tekong to gain some experience operating one, Mr Lee said, adding that the reclaimed land there will be used for Singapore Armed Forces training.
As for the eastern coastline, polders are also a “serious option” and the reclaimed land can be used for “housing and other purposes”, Mr Lee added.
Mr Koh said that these new parcels of land that might be introduced to the 17km eastern coastline could become prime land if opened for residential development, since they would likely enjoy more of a sea view.
Agreeing, Mr Alan Cheong, executive director of research and consultancy at property firm Savills Singapore, noted that if the new land comes to be considered as “much more valuable”, it will boost the values of sites inland because prices in the same area are “correlated”.
ERA Realty’s head of research Nicholas Mak said that the Government’s plans should “give some comfort” instead of riling up the market.
“Property prices won’t go down if there is confidence in the Government to fix the issue,” he said.
‘ASSURANCES’ FROM GOVERNMENT, EFFORTS FROM INDIVIDUALS
Speaking to TODAY at (ITE) College Central in Ang Mo Kio after the rally, Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, Member of Parliament (MP) in the East Coast Group Representative Constituency (GRC), said that Mr Lee’s suggestions will hopefully “give some assurances that measures will be put in place”.
Noting that the younger generation is concerned about environmental issues, he added: “I am glad young people are very aware that this is the future for them because they are going to be the ones inheriting the places.”
Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng, who often champions environmental causes in Parliament, said that while the Government can make adaptations to retain property value along the East Coast Road area, climate change efforts do not stop there.
“I think what PM Lee covered was very important, but it is not just about what the Government can do. It is about what individuals can do…
“We need people to reduce, reuse and — as I keep stressing as the very last resort — recycle… Everybody can do it,” he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NABILAH AWANG AND LOUISA TANG
